Trying So Hard
by Rhuatan
Summary: just read it


I moved among the shadows and raised my bow. My grey-blue eyes reflected in the blue rays of the moon. A human-like shadow was running nearby, panting heavily. I didn't lower my heavy bow, remaining ready to shoot him down if necessary. Darkness passed over me. I held my breath and a light breeze from above fell upon me. My light brown hair fell from my forehead and covered my eyes. I flicked it back as the shadow moved away, towards the outlined man.

I gasped as it glided over the field of weeds before me. The shadow was outlined on the field as a flying thing with bat-like wings and a long body. The outline grew bigger and a heavy thud trembled through the ground. The man moved towards its form.

_Good. It's going to have the man as a meal. _I smirked to myself, looking away temporarily to locate a trail to get away on silently, in case the man isn't enough of a meal. When I looked back, the dragon was there, but not feasting on the meat. The man was stroking the sapphire dragon's neck fearlessly.

A Rider? They're gone. They're extinct. The dragons—Galbatorix has the last dragon and that isn't his black dragon!

Sure enough, the dragon let out a shower of sparks, giving a momentary glance at the Rider's face.

"Eragon," I whispered. It had been a year since I had seen him. It had been a year since I had run away, too. My father had no respect for me. "Curse him."

Much like Eragon, though, I had lost my mother at a very young age. I was only two short years old when she died, but that was twelve long years ago already. I lowered my bow. How could Eragon be a Rider when he's just a poor farm boy? Brom said that Riders were bound to their dragons when dragon eggs hatched for them. How could have that little stubborn person get a hold of an egg in the first place.

I wrapped my thick, leather cloak around myself closer. I shook my head and pulled my hood over my face, running off silently. After getting out of earshot, I marched noisily through the crackling leaves and snapping twigs. After trekking through the unmarked paths for another two hours, I finally had a great expanse of crops before me. I rushed alongside the borders quickly as a dog began to bark.

After I was out of sight from the crops and houses, I became familiar with my well-marked path from when I was young. I strolled lazily along the path and finally came upon the beginning of a sturdy wooden fence. My ex-cattle were lying down near the borders and were chewing their cud quite contently. I continued moving and I passed our prized horses, pigs, and chickens. Finally, there was a large field of unused land. Memories of me riding an old horse around the pasture struck me, my father waving happily to me from the house, buckets of milk surrounding him. A smile crept onto my face. But those times were gone now. The smile disappeared. I slowly walked up the mountain, away from my home, my memories. The place got steeper until I was clamped up again the bare rocks and climbed up vertically. My mind was dazed; I didn't care. If I fell, no one in the land would care, or miss me. I reached a point where the rock forced me up and onto a ledge, where I finally rested. I looked down. A tear rolled down my nose.

What would I do with my life? Wander in the wilderness until a disaster takes my young life? It sounded good a year ago, but I wanted more. The world seemed duller by the minute. I stood up and pressed on, barely even consciously making the decision. The cliff reached a point where it went past being vertical. I ignored it and continued climbing. Tremors racked my arms as they strained to cling onto the crumbly rock. My right mind returned as I was only a foot from the rounded top. I gasped at the distance I had come. The last foot seemed like another mile ahead.

"If I could have made it up here without being in my right mind, then I can make it one last foot while thinking straight. I secured my footing and reached a trembling hand towards the last handhold. I grabbed it and carefully lifted the first half of my body onto the flatter surface. I breathed heavily, ready to pull the rest of myself up, but I couldn't. What if I fell? No one would care. I took another series of deep breaths in and sprung forward, my feet almost catching on the rocks. "I did it!"

I crawled a few more paces and then collapsed. The cool night air swirled around me. After a while, I stood up and sat crossed legged on the peak of the mountain. I watched as the blinding sun arose and chased the moon away from its domain. I lay down in the sun and removed my heavy cloak. Droopy-eyed, I slept peacefully until the very last rays of the sun disappeared.

When I awoke, the sun had already set and the temperature was dropping. I swept my cloak back on and shivered. I managed to stand up, but my lazy feet stumbled and I fell, using my hands to break the fall. As I was about to get up again, the stone beneath my hands shook. I jumped back and watched as the rock crumbled into sand and a round stone looking like a smoothed oval of ice was revealed. After a few minutes, I approached it and wiped a light layer of the sand off its warm surface. My fingers ran frictionless across its flawless shell.

A tremble shook through the stone again and I withdrew. The stone glowed and arose out of its socket of rock until it was hovering a foot above my head. It showed like a star and then suddenly dropped, losing its brightness at the same moment. I caught it and ran my hand across its surface again. It was slightly longer than my forearm, but felt lighter than a stone that size should weigh.

I sighed as if in annoyance and dropped the round stone again. It wobbled and sharp squeaks came from it. I scooted another few feet back and watched speechlessly as cracks began to web themselves across its beautiful, silver exterior. No! It was flawless no more. The cracks continued to widen and I started to feel fear creep into my mind. What's going on?

Finally, after only a few minutes of nerve racking thoughts, the stone wobbled and threatened to split into pieces. A claw poked out of one of the cracks and began prying at the sharp edges of the what-I-had-just-realized-was-an-egg. I gasped and drew away further. After moments passed, I began to become worried, the claw had stopped prying and it was just sitting there—no peeps, squeaks, or attempts to free it. I slowly crawled towards it and inched my fingers through the thick eggshell and pried at the shell for the unborn offspring. I tried with all my strength and finally split the thing in half. My hands were sore and on my right hand, the eggshell had cut through part of the skin, making it start to sting and bleed.

The limp creature was lying there, taking in little gasps for air. I immediately went to its aid. I reached out to check its heartbeat, but as soon as my fingers scraped along its scales, a blinding light flashed in my eyes and a metallic clang filled my ears. A painful streak crept along my fingers of my left hand and trickled down my hand, through my arm, around my chest, and around the rest of my body.

The pain eventually dwindled off, but a paralyzed feeling still held in my left arm. I cradled it against my body and hesitantly inched myself upright again. The creature was some better now and was upright and taking in larger breaths. I went up to it cautiously again.

"Poor thing," I whispered, absentmindedly stroking its neck with the tips of my fingers from my unharmed hand. Then a moment later, realizing what I was doing, I pulled my hand back and waited for the punishment. It didn't come.

I hesitantly reached out again. I tapped the tip of my pointer finger against the scales before finally feeling its heartbeat and breathing. After feeling nothing but the cold air, I took my cloak and wrapped it around the beautiful dragon. The warm seeped into her and she seemingly sprang to life. She had wriggled out of the rough fabric's hold and was crawling around with curiosity and interest.

Only my protection saved it from walking straight off the cliff. Once it was bored with the plain surface of the rock, it began to explore its wings. It sniffed and fidgeted with them and then finally took off into a slight breeze.

I yelled out in alarm, but it turned its head and glided back around, landing a foot in front of me. I chuckled and stroked its head lovingly. This was a new beginning. A new chance for me to begin my life.


End file.
